If your guy gets freaked out by the sight of a big spider, hes got a good reason.
The bite of the rather large banana spider, with a leg span that can be four to five inches long, causes hours-long erections. (Add your own joke here if you want.) But thats not actually good news, because the condition, priapism, can be quite painful. Other effects of the spider bite can be difficult breathing, loss of muscle control, and even death by oxygen deprivation.
The spider gets its name from the fact that it hangs out on banana plantations in the tropics. It can then hitch a ride on bunches of bananas that end up in supermarkets, assuming the crawlies arent spotted in transit. And youre not safe just because you dont live near banana-boat unloading docks. Banana spiders have been spotted in stores in Oklahoma and Canada.
The upside is, though, that all the nasty results can be treated, and that very few banana-spider bites are fatal if you seek treatment right away.
Dr. Kenia Nunes, a physiologist at the Medical College of Georgia, is currently studying the effect of banana-spider bites. The venom, she told MSNBC, is a very rich mixture of several molecules.
Well, thats one way of looking at it.
